The Hospital Wing

"Can I go yet?" asked Kylie Lupin as she handed Madam Pomfrey a jar of Bruise-Healing Potion.

"No, you stay here until I'm good and ready to let you go. You know well as I, that I'll let you know when that decision is made, and now is not the time," replied the nurse.

"But it's been over a week!"

"And you were extremely sick when you were brought in here. Thank God that Severus found you when he did, or you'd be in serious trouble," scolded Madam Pomfrey. "You're still too weak to leave my care."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Saintly Severus..." grumbled the Gryffindor 6^th year.

"You owe him your life, dear, so don't complain."

"Don't remind me," muttered Kylie under her breath. The girl scowled. No way she would ever admit that Severus Snape, a greasy-haired, 7^th year Slytherin was ever under her debt.

A week ago Kylie had gotten into a fight with her brother, Remus. [A/N: We still love you, Moony!] In the aftermath, Kylie had been so upset with herself that she had ran outside crying, and was caught in a snowstorm. She had lost consciousness and Snape later stumbled over the half-frozen Gryffindor and had taken her up to the hospital wing, where she still remained.

"Now go get some chocolate, like a good girl," the nurse commanded, "Your brother and his friends landed another poor student in here."

Kylie winced at the mention of the older brother. She felt horrible about the fight, even now, a week later. Kylie and Remus almost always got along and were very close. They had gotten into a short row slightly after the last full moon about how Remus never paid any attention to her. It was stupid, Kylie admitted now, but she very much didn't want to grow apart from her only sibling.

Kylie shook the thoughts from her head and bit her wild tongue from commenting about how the nurse always made her work. She got the chocolate, knowing working was far better than staying in bed all day.

Kylie marched back into the main wing with a new bar of the sweet, ready to prove that she was more than well enough to return to the Gryffindor Tower. She was almost to the new patient's bed, when a sudden rush of colors flew across her vision. Soon black engulfed the girl and she fainted into a pair of strong muscular arms that had hurried from the door when their owner had seen the sixteen-year-old sway.

***********************

Kylie opened her light blue eyes to a swirl of colors before her. It took her a minute to realize that Severus Snape and Poppy Pomfrey were leaning over her.

"Not had much luck with health lately, have we Miss Lupin?" Snape questioned, trying, unsuccessfully, to hide a bemused smile. "Never fear, Severus Snape, super Slytherin to the rescue."

Kylie glared and shot up, but her pounding head, along with Madam Pomfrey, forced her back down. 'He always just has to catch me at these moments, doesn't he?' Kylie thought angrily as Poppy (Kylie had started referring to her by the nurse' first name as she had already spent enough time in the hospital wing to know that madam Pomfrey preferred her first name more) forced some chocolate down her throat.

Snape's amused look had been replaced by a concerned one that Kylie hadn't thought possible for a Slytherin, and asked, "Will she be all right?"

"She'll be fine, just working herself too hard, when she's still weak."

"I'm not weak!"

The two looked slightly surprised at her outburst.

"I'm not weak," Kylie protested. "I just was...um...lowbloodsugar."

"What was that?"

"Low blood sugar!" Kylie practically shouted. "If I don't get enough food, I faint. I'll be fine, it's happened before." Kylie's face was tinged pink now, partly from anger, and partly for having admitted that in front of Severus Snape. [A/N: I know it's not that embarrassing of a thing to admit, but imagine, a Slytherin!]

After another boring week in the hospital wing, and learning just about everything there is to know about wizarding medicine, Kylie was released on condition that she returned for a checkup every once in a while to make sure she was still healthy.

During that last week Kylie came to know Poppy as a friend and discovered that Severus Snape wasn't as evil as she had perceived him to be. He came everyday in his free time to help Poppy brew potions and helped arrange things in the storehouse.

"Why do you come here so much?" Kylie asked one day as she and Severus were resorting the warehouse.

"Why do you?" he retorted.

"Poppy's got enough to do as it is I guess. Oh right," she muttered when Snape looked at her pointedly. "But there's something about medicine that just draws me to it. I like helping people."

"I would have thought otherwise before this week." Silence ensued.

"You still haven't answered, you know."

"Answered what?"

"My question."

"Oh," ... "Well I don't know. Poppy's the only person I can actually talk to. And, well, she's not exactly the most precise potion-brewer."

"Oh, and you are?"

"I like to think that," Severus said, with mock pompousness.

"I noticed," Kylie smiled. "Why can't you talk to your friends?"

"Ha. Right. Funny."

"What? That's what friends are for."

"You wouldn't understand." There was a moment of thought before Kylie replied.

"Try me," she challenged. Another pause followed while Kylie waited for him to respond.

"No way I could tell a Slytherin the things I need to say."

"What can't you tell a Slytherin? How much you loathe the Dark Arts?" Kylie smirked. There was silence again.

"Mm-hmm."

"Oh, right. You, hate the Dark Arts? That's laughable."

"Well laugh all you want then," Severus replied roughly, turning his back on the shocked girl.

"Oh," Kylie whispered, not knowing what to say.

"You'd be surprised that not all of us are pure evil," Severus said quietly, turning back to Kylie.

"So why are you telling me?" Kylie questioned, setting down the last few bottles she was holding and sat on an empty crate.

"Well, I guess I don't know. You won't tell anyone, will you?" Severus said quickly, paling considerably, "cause if they found out I'd..."

"No problem." The color rushed back to the face of a very relieved Severus Snape. "Thank you," he whispered.

Kylie smiled inwardly at the fact that a Slytherin, master hater of her brother, was thanking her for keeping a secret. Good blackmail Kylie thought. She shook her head No, I won't.

And slowly a friendship blossomed.

A/N: Ok, that's the first chapter done!! Review and tell me what you want to happen. I have a lot more written up (10 pages in my notebook), but I have to type it up and it might be a while (cause I don't have a lot of time, with reading other stories and homework). Sorry, this first part was kind of boring, but it was necessary to get the plot going. There will be a plot, don't worry! R/R!!